Lord of the Rings Online

LotRO has beautiful graphics. The landscapes are wonderful, though as others have said, the characters themselves not so much - not that they're terrible or anything, just not as great.

My main problem is that the gameplay is fun for a short while, but then it quickly becomes boring. Also, after the starting area, the amount of quests to be done is overwhelming. I would rather them lower the amount of quests and raise the xp rewarded from each, because it turns me off completely. WoW has a lot of quests, but they're spread out, and there aren't WAY too many in each area - and when you're in the area, for the most part, it doesn't keep running you around everywhere, it'll usually make you complete quests in an area, then move along to another, which I like.

I'd say if the combat was enhanced a bit more, and the quests were fewer, but of higher quality, this game would be better.

The epic storyline quests are too few and far between. My only draw to keep playing is to play through these instances, and that's just not enough.

 First, im guess that you made a dwarf as your first character? maybe maybe not. If not a dwarf then a human, the only two that can have beards...if you made a dward then ya, the dwarf starting area is kinda lame in terms of graphics..but wait until you get to the northern shire, or any other forested area with crystal clear waters that make you want to jump in and feel the coolness of them...they ARE stunning. the best damn water ever in a game i have personally played.and while that might seem a small thing just talking about water, it so draws your attention that you dont care about anything else.  Then again look up at the sky, its amazing also, and when it rains, clouds actually cover it.  I dont know what your setting are at, but this game is amazing is in quality...maybe not as good as some other high high end games, but its pretty where it counts without adding a crap load of poly-counts just to say they did, and in the end doing nothing but limiting the user base that can play it.

Enough of that, the combat animations do take a but ot get used to, but its not because of any error or faults, but its built that way.  Turbine uses an interesting combat system in terms of timings of attacks, special moves etc that after a while you forget about how it looks as you get used to it.  The only problem is Turbine is pretty hush hush about how their system truly works, making even sites like lotro-wiki (their version of WoW wiki) to guess alot at how numbers are figured and such....but this mean that instead of reading the perfect way to do somthing becuase all the math is right their before you, you have to figure out on your own what works best for you.

As for the cloth colors..yes they do suck at low levels..BUT this makes the better lookign gear(or outfits yo get when you have a lvl 20 character) even cooler.   And the community of this game is VERY mature..so no, i have yet so see pink dwarfs myself, and as a general rule of thumb(even though it has gotten worse since the moria release) you wont find many characters with lame names, running around naked or in pink clothes.  On a scale of 1-10 of maturnes, this is a 8 or 9 with WoW being a -232123, and the original EQ being about a 6 or 7.(its all server dependent too, Landrocal is the unofficial RP server and has awseome community ran events all the time...the player music syste m is just TOOO fun.)

On the UI. Ya at first is different, but whats not.  But you can download custom UI's that change teh appearance of your UI, but sadly that is it.  No mass customization that adds new functions or anything, but using the ctrl+\ feature you can drag any bar anywhere you want...alas, the resize function does BLOW.  The mini map...well there is a compass, the top is north, always and your character icon moves inside of it, rather then wow where you have the option to make it rotate with you.

As for the quests, this is my opinion on of the best games in terms of quests out their.  Ya sure they are kinda generic, but they encompass a story that is more rich then any game out theire..  and if you have ever read the books its surprisingly fun to encounter familiar places and peoples, while solving problems that at times jump right out of the book.  Also the epic quest line is a plus, as you find your self tfilling in between the lines of the book as the Fellowship travels.  You know they got someone and somepeopel followed them, but this game allows you to play a hidden role where you feel you have actually helped them.

I guess this game is not for everyone.  I came from WoW after playing since beta, and at times I do miss WoW for its ease of brainpower to play, easy dynamics, but I can never go back to the immature, rowdy chats, and Blizzard constant destroying of an originally great PvE game in favor of an unbalanced, unimaginitive PvP game.  LOTRO is that great PvE game that takes a bit to get used to, in fact i played in beta and played teh free trial TWICE, but the fourth time I allowed myself to dwelve further into the game and level, and found it completely enjoyable.

Originally posted by reborngamer

Originally posted by gestalt11

Come on this is just silly.

 

Yeah sure LOTRO models are a bit stiff and the hair graphics are crappy.  The rest of the game is one of the best looking MMOs around.

 

Trying to say that two minor flaws make the art/graphics complete trash is beyond hyperbole.  It just makes people role their eyes.  Pointing to a face that you probably never even looking at I mean come on. 

 

And the models and animation are NOT worse than VG.  Gimme a break. 

 

It amazes me how many people try to write a review, nitpick a small army of things and then say a whole game sucks without ever commenting or analyzing the important aspects of the game.  These people are usually immediate obvious as they show no blance in their perspective.  They decided not to like something, throw tantrum and like anyone throwing a tantrum they lash out at everything they think seems weak and then explode out to a completely overly dramatic conclusion that is obviously silly in the face of something that has strong features.

 

Of course the flip side of that is that its amazing how many people ignore major problems in design in games and act like its the players such as what goes in with WAR right now.

 

The graphics are not a game breaker for me but boring and none-engaging gameplay is. I never once said Vanguard had better animations and characters. In fact I think they had some of the worst character models of recent mmo's, the whole game was a disaster at launch but was clearly rushed. I can't speak for it now since I haven't gone back since.

I have to wonder how many MMO's some here have played. I'll use EQ2 as an example again because I think it outshines LOTR in almost every aspect unless you have some sort of nostalgic attachment to LOTR lore(which is fine).

I suppose seeing how this is a newer mmorpg I thought perhaps it might be on par or better.

There are clearly folks(like yourself) who enjoy LOTR and thats fine. I am not trying to say you should hate the game and stop playing. Keep playing and I'll keep looking. Its all just my opinion, don't attack me because you dont agree. Lets keep it chill.

 

 

I have played EQ2.  In fact I have said in previous posts on this forum that I thought when it comes down to features EQ2 is a better game than WoW.

Other than the guild features I do not see how EQ2 is better than LOTRO and in terms of looks and animations LOTRO is clearly better.

Anyone who likes EQ2 alot and says LOTRO is a terrible game needs to do some serious rethinking  IMO.  The games are not that different.  The gameplay is quite similar.

Pine for the AA system of EQ2 or whatever other features that are richer.  Doesn't matter because the OP is is not realistic; end of story.  

Has nothing to do with valid or invalid criticism taking minor things and minor differences and condemning something as awful is so wildly bi-polar as to be meaningless.

You state you weren't impressed in beta so you obviously went into his with a closed mind.  The graphics and music in this game are gorgeous.  In fact, I often listen to the soundtrack.   I'm not sure what computer you're trying to run this on, but mine look like this.  This is on High without DX10.

Originally posted by Trainedmonky

Originally posted by Mentor73

Trainedmonkey ... nah, you are in wrong topic. This is not Guild Wars ;).

More fun with kinship. But even pugs are not so bad.

 

 

guess i should have pointed out the bad AI, bad mob pathing, and weak endgame raiding in hele and the rift...it's just to easy nothing epic about a boss that gets bugged out because turbine is busy trying to make that boss anti-hardcore (here you go carebear you can do it too!)

Dont tell me you beat Rift and Helegrod on your first try. Or CD. And yet whats that got to do with solo grinding you mentioned. Did you even join a kinship?

But as in every mmorpg every instance eventually gets farming status. Even in Moria in few months.

But then again, why did you get lifetime sub for game you don't like, for me thats  .

Enjoy FFXI.

Originally posted by reborngamer

I played LOTR for the first time when it was still in beta. My first impression of beta was "complete trash". Of course the game was in beta, but I was not impressed to purchase it on initial release.

Now here we are with a brand new expansion. I got a little desperate looking for a game to play, I haven't played an mmorpg since the disappointment that we all know of as Vanguard. Thought about WAR, read the forums and saw a lot of negative posts so decided to pass, then I thought about age of conan, same result. I had previously played, UO, EQ, Lineage2, AO, EQ2, Vanguard, SWG(first few months of release, one of the best mmorpg experiences ever...), Guild Wars, DAOC and a tiny bit of WOW(wasn't for me). Out of those I enjoyed EQ2, SWG and the original EQ the most.

Anyway, back to the point. I came to the LOTR forums (i knew the new expo just released) and even though I wasn't impressed initially I decided based on the forum feedback here that the game was decent and worth a try. I went of and bought the complete edition pack, I was impressed with the price of only $39(CND) for both original and expansion. Rushed home to install it and just as soon as the install was complete the disappointment kicked in.

[...]

 

Did you know the game have a free trial, maybe its disabled now but they will reenable it soon. I tried the game in the open beta and didnt like it, when I decided to retry it 2 months ago, I picked up the trial,  this way, in case you dont like it, the dissapointment is a little less.

But amyway, if you dont like the game, it just is not for you, I hope you find soon a new mmorpg to play.

To the OP:

You said that immersion was the most important aspect of an MMO for you, however, your biggest gripe seems to be mainly about character customisation.  Seeing as this, plus the relatively poor character models are probably the game's biggest flaws; I wonder if perhaps you are really just looking for something to complain about.  If it's character customisation you are after, I recommend City of Heroes/Villians.

Like you, I also played in beta, and like you, I also did not like the game all that much.  However, six months ago, I decided to give Lotro another chance, and it has been the best gaming decision I have made in a long time. 

I also played Everquest 2 for a while, and was a big fan of that game.  The one thing that annoyed me about it, (and nearly all other MMO's for that matter), was that it did not have a strong, narrative plot.  Oh, it had some references to back-story, and lore, like all MMO's, but not an actual plot that you could follow.  This is something that I have been looking for in this genre for ages, and it was not until I played Lotro that I was satisfied.  The epic quest chain, complete with cinematic cut-scenes offers an actual story and reason for doing quests.  Sure it has the generic quests as well, but at least with the epic quest line, there is a story behind it all. 

This quest line is also constantly updated every couple of months, with an extra 'book' added.  So you always have the feeling that you are part of some immense story.  Also, the introduction of Moria, (and subsequent expansions) adds an entire new volume of books for you to complete.  And therein lies what seperates Lotro from the rest of the MMO community; its sheer size and ambition.  If you look at the scale of the game so far, and then understand that we are only halfway through Tolkien's first book of the trilogy, it will give you some indication of what the finished game will resemble in size.  What with the advent of the War of the Ring as well, and you get some idea of Turbine's ambition with this project.

Cut-scenes and cinematic sequances have long been associated with strong story-lines and player immersion.  I remember when WoW's Burning Crusade expansion got released, and a lot of players were wetting their pants with excitement, because it had a couple of cut-scenes (not cineamtic ones like Lotro, but merely in-game ones).  Well, Lotro has dozens of these.  Both in-game, and cineamtic.  It also has two narrators, with Gandalf relating the action in Volume One, and Galadriel's soothing voice taking over in Volume Two.

Okay, I've waffled on for long enough.  That is some info about the epic quest line, only one reason why I am so enthusiastic about this game, and I suspect from your post that it is an aspect of these games which you enjoy.

I was not going to bother posting here, but your post is very familiar to what I thought of Lotro way back in Beta, before I had given it a real chance, and so if, as I suspect, you have not gotten very far in the game, then I urge you to give it another go.

Sure, it may not be as graphically spectacular as some of the newer games out there, but bear in mind that it was developed so people like me, with below average pc specs, could still run the game.  Also, if you look at the scenery, and see how dynamic it is (as in the backdrops get more detailed the closer you get), you'll be able to appreciate it better, and thus get more immersed into the world.  Character models are quite poor, I agree, but they do look a lot better once you get some nicer gear.

If you are a hardcore player, who is into pvp and 40 man raids, then Lotro is not for you.  Yes it does have smaller raids, and also has some pvp in the form of monster play, but these are not the game's key features.

However, if you are into pve games, with a very friendly and mature community, with excellent story-lines and quests to match, with different character classes than the norm, with session play whereby you take control of other characters to witness key events in Middle Earth's history, to explore stunning, huge environments full of secrets such as Mines of Moria, to have beautiful orchestral scores flowing from the speakers, and a game that does not require you to forfeit your social life in order to play; then I recommend you give it another chance.